An army private became a Christian and began to experience some persecution from his fellow soldiers. One rainy night he came in very tired and wet, but he still got down on his knees and prayed before he went to bed. That simple act greatly irritated his sergeant, and the sergeant launched two boots, covered in heavy mud, toward the private. One boot hit him on the right side of the head and the other one hit him on the left side. But the private kept right on praying. The next morning the sergeant found those boots beautifully polished and placed by the side of his bed. In his own words, he said, “I was saved that day.”

In 1 Peter 3:1, the Bible talks about how a Christian wife can win her unsaved husband to Christ without saying a word. The verse says:

Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives. (N.K.J.V.)

It is this same principle that we see on display in the true story about the private and the sergeant. Christians can win people to Christ “without a word” by way of their deeds. There’s a famous quote that is attributed to Francis of Assisi, and it conveys this point very well. He said, “Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary use words.”